The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

Unknowingly, Jiang An had already become his pillar.

Jiang An spoke: ”Let’s take a look at the map, starting with the closest one.”

The technical officer next to him pulled up the map on his phone and checked it: ”Pearl River Garden is 5 kilometers away, Pearl River Scenic Spot is 7 kilometers away.”

”Alright, let’s go to Pearl River Garden first.”

Soon, a few people returned to the car, drove, and headed directly to Pearl River Garden following the navigation.

Their destination: building 3, 7th floor, unit 2 at Pearl River Garden.

It must be said that Pearl River is a coastal metropolis.

Originally just a 5-kilometer journey, it took nearly 40 minutes, the traffic was extremely congested along the way.

At 7 p.m., they parked the vehicle at the entrance of the community and went straight to the door of building 3, 7th floor, unit 2, where couplets were pasted on the door.

Jiang An raised his hand to touch the doorknob—very clean, indicating it was in regular use.

Then, he raised his hand and knocked on the door.

”Knock, knock, knock.”

There was no response from inside.

He knocked again, ”Knock, knock, knock.”

A middle-aged woman’s voice finally came through: ”Who is it?”

”Public Security Bureau, we want to investigate something.”

Upon hearing it was the Public Security Bureau, the woman inside hurriedly opened the door.

She saw four people and was a bit surprised, just about to ask why they weren’t in uniform, but Qin Feng had already shown his credentials: ”We are from the Criminal Investigation Team of the Guangling City Public Security Bureau, here to check something for a case.”

”You’re from Pearl River, right? My husband and I have never done anything illegal.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang An quickly waved his hand, saying: ”Don’t be nervous, this case has nothing to do with you.”

”Our investigation mainly concerns this house.”

”The house?” The woman looked surprised.

”Is this house rented by you or is it yours?”

The woman quickly replied: ”Rented! The current lease is for five years, and this is the fourth year, the contract is due for renewal later this year.”

”Where did you rent it from? What’s the landlord’s name?”

”The landlord’s name is Zhang Xiang! We signed a contract back then, each of us had a copy.”

Then Jiang An asked again: ”How long have you been living here?”

”I’ve lived here for ten years. Initially, I rented it because my child went to school here, and later attended a local university.”

”Heard that Zhang Xiang is from outside the area, so I’ve just continued renting this house.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang An and Qin Feng glanced at each other.

Then, Jiang An spoke: ”Madam, we would like to look at the room, is that okay?”

”Sure.”

”I’m just a tenant, the house is a bit messy, please don’t mind it.”

”No problem, we’re just investigating. We might use some chemical reagents which are harmless to humans, please don’t be alarmed.”

”No problem, the police serve the people, and you’ve come all the way from Guangling, it’s been hard for you. Cooperation is the least one can do.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng quickly gave her a thumbs up, saying: ”You’re great, madam.”

”If everyone were like you, our job would be much easier.”

”Oh, no problem, you go ahead.”

”I’ll pour you some water, my husband is on a night shift, I’m the only one home.”

Soon, Jiang An, Qin Feng, Wan, and another technician went inside.

Once inside, Jiang An looked around the entire layout.

A two-bedroom, one living room apartment, very compact.

However, his target was not the bedrooms, but the bathroom.

In Jiang An’s view, for dismemberment cases, the bathroom is usually the first choice.

Firstly, because the bathroom is relatively hidden space, you can’t see its state from outside;

Secondly, the bathroom is tiled, making it easy to clean if blood is spattered;

Thirdly, the bathroom has a lot of water resources, necessary for washing dismemberment tools or cleaning the blood off the perpetrator.

Jiang An briefly investigated the layout, then asked: ”Do you only have one bathroom here?”

”Yes, just one bathroom is enough for a two-bedroom, one living room house.”

When the woman answered, Jiang An was already standing inside the bathroom.

He examined it from top to bottom; the floor and walls were tiled, with an overhead ceiling.

At that moment, Qin Feng also stood behind him and whispered: ”Mr. Jiang, ten years have passed, do you think we can still find anything here?”

”Moreover, the bathroom doesn’t have a typical partition or dry and wet separation, after countless showers, even if something existed, it might no longer be detectable.”

Upon hearing this, the technician with glasses quickly nodded: ”Exactly. Although the Luminol Reagent is sensitive, it hasn’t reached the level where it can detect things infinitely diluted.”

Listening to their discussion, a hint of contemplation flashed in Jiang An’s eyes.

He certainly understood the situation they mentioned.

Just like a challenge on a TV show, where a drop of blood on a truck can still be detected by sniffer dogs after infinite dilution.

Of course, that was for show; in reality, when blood is infinitely diluted, it might reach a level where reagents can’t detect it.

Jiang An surveyed the entire bathroom and focused his gaze on the ceiling—aluminum alloy ceiling, with individual panels separated.

He thought: If dismemberment occurred, then bloodstains would be on the floor and walls, even splattered onto adjacent walls.

Therefore, when the killer struck, blood ought to have splattered onto the ceiling.

He then turned around and said, ”Bring the flashlight over.”

The technician promptly handed the flashlight over from the tool bag.

Jiang An raised the flashlight and carefully scanned the ceiling.

The ceiling appeared extremely clean, with no visible stains detected.

At this moment, the hostess saw their actions and asked: ”Hey, officers, are you looking at the ceiling? Is it smelling like urine?”

She laughed awkwardly, ”Sometimes there are rats urinating on our ceiling, and I always wipe the surface clean.”

”Regular wiping?” Jiang An turned and asked, his face surprised.

Mopping the floor was understandable, but wiping the ceiling?

The middle-aged woman laughed and said, ”To remove odors, I also use 84 disinfectant.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng and Wan exchanged glances.

Their expressions turned grave; originally, there was hope of finding residual evidence, unaware it had been artificially destroyed.

Simple water rinsing might still allow detection.

But once disinfectant is used for wiping, then any traces of blood would be completely erased.

Just as everyone felt disappointed, Jiang An continued to shine the light onto the ceiling.

In his line of sight, besides seeing a scrubbed-clean ceiling surface, there were gaps between each ceiling panel.

Then he asked, ”Madam, when you wash the ceiling annually, do you take it down for cleaning?”

”No, I don’t, because the structure above is complex, I just wipe the surface clean.”

Hearing this, Jiang An turned around and said, ”Mr. Qin, I think we can take down the ceiling panels.”

”Surface traces may have been wiped clean, but those gaps might still contain what we’re looking for.”

Upon his words, Qin Feng, Wan, and the technician immediately focused their attention on the ceiling gaps....